Rob Ford's Toronto

[voxpopulicosmicum]

He's taken a long time to make that happen - so either he's waiting for the prices for good contractors to drop, or he's just too careful with his money (or doesn't have enough yet) to finally build.

Or he's a drug addict who can't even get his shit together to get one of his lackeys to replace worn out sofas let alone demo and rebuild his house.

 

[OSS 117]

Obviously MetroMan is a shark and I'm a guppy, but what he described here jives with what I've heard - a LOT of couch time. This is good news for two reasons: 1) It means that my information is the same as MetoMan's, so I've got cred now, and 2) I got to use the word "jives".



Honesty, how does anyone at City Hall even pretend that what's going on is even in the same galaxy as normal? It would be like being introduced to your buddy's work friend, only to learn that every 15 minutes a fire errupts from his pants. And you're like: "Did Eddie just spray a fire extinguisher dowm his pants?" And your buddy's like, "Oh, is it quarter after already? Yeah, Eddie's balls shoot fire every 15 minutes, I thought I mentioned that. Anyway, are you buying the next round?" Wouldn't you be like: "Excuse me? It is not fucking normal to have a dragon dick."



I think I get what you're saying, but I recoil at the suggestion that the press is "hostile" for any reason other than Ford is acting like the mayoral equivalent of the guy who's junk bursts into flames four times an hour.

(Sorry if I ruined the forum tonight. It's been that kind of day. I'll go now).

I really really hate to put a pin in your balloon, but the word is "jibes".

 

[pogopope]

An image flashed into my mind of Renata taunting Rob by asking why he doesn't make as much money as Doug. "Why can't we have nice things?", "He donates his council salary and STILL has more money than us", etc. It was funny right up to the point of imagining Rob's likely reaction.

Rich people spend their money on nonsense like stainless appliances. Wealthy people don't. See: Warren Buffet.

Hate to defend the guy but his home decor is like...beyond the last thing that points to anything.

 

[One Nut Kruk]

Actually, I'm told Ford spends a significant part of his already limited time at City Hall locked in the bathroom and sitting on the couch. My former Ford staff source caught him dozed off more than a few times. The only time he's getting any work done is when his staff comes in or he's attending a City Council or executive meeting. Most of his infamous returned calls are made from his cell phone at home or while he's driving.

Why doesn't anyone (councillors) say anything about the fact that he's never had a meeting or personal conversation with Karen Stintz? How exactly does he stay informed on transit issues (obviously he isn't) when he has never even spoken with the Chair of the TTC (as Karen mentioned on, The Agenda, a few nights ago). Why should anyone take his opinions on transit seriously when everything he knows is relayed to him by Doug or his staffers?

Do all City Hall bathrooms contain couches or is this in his office? I assume the latter.

 

[Peepers]

Why doesn't anyone (councillors) say anything about the fact that he's never had a meeting or personal conversation with Karen Stintz? How exactly does he stay informed on transit issues (obviously he isn't) when he has never even spoken with the Chair of the TTC (as Karen mentioned on, The Agenda, a few nights ago). Why should anyone take his opinions on transit seriously when everything he knows is relayed to him by Doug or his staffers?

Do all City Hall bathrooms contain couches or is this in his office? I assume the latter.

He doesn't need Karen Stintz to stay informed on transit issues. Ford has a good relationship with Andy Byford and Andy is the real expert on transit - not Karen. As Chair of the TTC Stintz is really nothing more than a figurehead. After she went rogue on the Mayor early into her term as Chair of the TTC I am not surprised that Ford froze her out and ceased dealing with her.

 

[milkywaymusings]

He doesn't need Karen Stintz to stay informed on transit issues. Ford has a good relationship with Andy Byford and Andy is the real expert on transit - not Karen. As Chair of the TTC Stintz is really nothing more than a figurehead. After she went rogue on the Mayor early into her term as Chair of the TTC I am not surprised that Ford froze her out and ceased dealing with her.

Andy Byford. The same Andy Byford who has identified the downtown relief line, without a trace of equivocation, as the top priority for the TTC? You think Ford is going to listen to him? Meanwhile, your worship Rob Ford is claiming that "downtown has enough subways already" and thus demonstrating that he is utterly clueless when it comes to the issues in general and transit in particular. Worse still is his inability to comprehend that LRTs don't necessarily run down the middle of the road. Despite being clueless on this point, he still spouts confident assertions that have no basis in reality. He doesn't listen to anyone, so what reason do we have to believe that he will take the initiative to inform himself, when he has never, not even once, done so in the past? This joke of a mayor still hasn't read the council handbook after having his job saved by a technicality. And you think he has both the ability and the will to actually think for once in his life? Come on.

What is most tragic is that Ford's policies are antithetical to so much of his base. How many "taxpayers" in Ford Nation pay more in taxes than they receive back in services? He's an entitled savage born into wealth who claims to represent 'the little guy'. What a complete and utter joke.

 

[GenerationW]

Ford has a good relationship with Andy Byford

We've just seen the first major crack in that relationship -- Byford wants the DRL to be the top priority, Ford doesn't.

After she went rogue on the Mayor early into her term as Chair of the TTC I am not surprised that Ford froze her out and ceased dealing with her.

Ford would have no subway on his resume without her. He should kiss the ground she walks on.

 

[milkywaymusings]

We've just seen the first major crack in that relationship -- Byford wants the DRL to be the top priority, Ford doesn't.

Ford would have no subway on his resume without her. He should kiss the ground she walks on.

Thank you! Stintz put the plan together and rallied council, both left and right, to vote with her. Ford yelled "SUBWAYS, SUBWAYS, SUBWAYS", and that's pretty much where his contribution ends.

 

[adma]

Rich people spend their money on nonsense like stainless appliances. Wealthy people don't. See: Warren Buffet.

Hate to defend the guy but his home decor is like...beyond the last thing that points to anything.

Rob Ford probably thinks Warren Buffett is that "Margaritaville" guy.

 

[pattycakes]

Why did Gene Jones from THC ask for $2M to improve headquarters? Didn't Ford hire this guy? Am I the only one that thought that this was another attempt by Ford to change the channel? It looks like Ford is going to continue to create "problems", so that he can do his enraged schtick.
The next 12 months are going to be more of the same crap.

 

[toto]

Why did Gene Jones from THC ask for $2M to improve headquarters? Didn't Ford hire this guy? Am I the only one that thought that this was another attempt by Ford to change the channel? It looks like Ford is going to continue to create "problems", so that he can do his enraged schtick.
The next 12 months are going to be more of the same crap.

My favourite was this week's press conference called by Ford, in which he must have known the press were going to ask questions about Lisi's letter. He declined to anwser, but out of nowhere an adult with down syndrome comes up and gives Ford a hug, leaves and comes back for another hug. Ford then runs away from the press. End of presser! The whole thing felt like a set up.

 

[pattycakes]

My favourite was this week's press conference called by Ford, in which he must have known the press were going to ask questions about Lisi's letter. He declined to anwser, but out of nowhere an adult with down syndrome comes up and gives Ford a hug, leaves and comes back for another hug. Ford then runs away from the press. End of presser! The whole thing felt like a set up.

Absolutely a set up. First the chairs, then the Developmentally Challenged guy at the office, and now the THC - wonder what he'll create for next week. Now that Kouvalis has confirmed he will not be working with Ford, I guess we'll see more of this very obvious crap. At least Kouvalis is smart, slippery, but smart.

 

[blearghhh]

Thank you! Stintz put the plan together and rallied council, both left and right, to vote with her. Ford yelled "SUBWAYS, SUBWAYS, SUBWAYS", and that's pretty much where his contribution ends.

Well, to be fair (?) the reason Stintz did that was because Ford yelled and buffooned around enough that Stintz, being the opportunist she is, decided to work towards it.

Before Ford, the people who wanted a subway in Scarb were a minority who nobody listened to because it didn't make sense to pursue it.

After the mayor of the city telling them for years that it was reasonable to want Subways, and LRTs were crap? They made enough noise that people who had talent and ability kicked the football forward a little bit.

If it weren't for Ford, we would still be doing a mostly unchanged Transit City plan.

 

[pattycakes]

Article on Global News:

"The “circus and the sideshow” may be what get people talking, but that likely won’t be what sways them come voting time, said Ford’s former chief of staff, Mark Towhey.
“There’s a large segment of people that are unhappy with that circus-like atmosphere, but… there’s a huge slice of people who if given a choice between Rob Ford with the sideshow or another mayoral candidate who’s going to raise their cost of living in Toronto, they’re going to choose Rob Ford,” he said.

http://globalnews.ca/news/925703/ro...interest-in-toronto-mayoral-race-experts-say/


This makes me crazy, Rob has raised our cost of living in the city, and the print media had better start challenging this garbage. The Star's report on Ford's 3 year speech had a small box at the bottom of the article challenging his numbers. I hope they aren't as timid when the real electioneering begins.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It's been kind of an ongoing conspiracy theory but I'm getting the impression that Doug is indeed running the whole show. The argument yesterday over the phone was with Price. The words "Don't bother coming in tomorrow" were shouted, yet David Price was seen in Doug's office this afternoon.

I remember being surprised during the election that Kouvalis actually managed to cool Ford's notorious temper. It's like you could slap the guy in the face, make the nastiest Yo'mamma joke and steal his football trophies and he'd kumbaya it off for a minute and wouldn't explode as you'd expect him to. I was impressed. But the cracks are appearing. Shouting in City Council, losing it on Warmington, then on Price and not being able to endure even 20 seconds in front of the press before losing his cool and taking off... Ford is going to blow when Lisi's warrant comes out and the media circus not seen since the crack scandal broke will be unrelenting.

Seems to me that Doug Ford is the "regent" behind "King" Rob Ford. The spokesman for the mayor's office seems to be always Doug, and never Rob. Very, very few other councillor speak for Rob. Rob seems to never speak for himself anymore, except in slogans. His handlers keep themselves as barriers to prevent any accidential remarks coming out, but which still do.